Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Madeline wasn't loving her wig, but she certainly looked adorable at my work children's Halloween party Friday.
We may go out and trick or treat at a few friends' and families' houses but really, since Maddy doesn't eat candy it's more of a pain this year than it's worth.

Maddy seemed a bit overwhelmed at my work Halloween party and got completely freaked out when her three cousins, Jack, Luke and Reed, showed up dressed in ghoulish costumes. I tried to snap their photo together and nope, didn't work out.

I wish Madeline had many cousins living next to her like I did. I always had so much fun trick or treating with them each year. The best part was going to my grandparents' house and finding out how grandpa was going to scare trick or treaters that year. He always dressed kinda scary and would sit like a statue in his yard or on his deck, waiting til the kids got closer for a better look. Scared me every time, even if I knew it was Grandpa Les sitting in that chair.

Miss you, grandpa! Wish you were here to enjoy the holiday!

Writing 101

A friend and I have decided to find ways to encourage ourselves to start writing again in hopes of beginning those novels we keep telling ourselves we're going to write. We found a Web site that provides short topics for writing prompts and decided to pick one daily.

I thought I'd share what I wrote for our first assignment.

Describe the easiest decision you've ever made.

I wasn’t sure where I was going, what I was going to do, or even if I was going to make anything of myself.

The one thing I knew for sure was that the test was positive. I was 21, single, living alone thousands of miles from home and pregnant.

It was the hardest phone call I ever had to make, calling my mom and telling her I was pregnant. I cringe now, just thinking about how badly I sucked at it.

Sure, I had a few options, but it was the easiest decision I’ve made in my life. I was about to embark on a difficult path, leading to God knows where, a trailer in some backwater Minnesota town like Jenkins, I imagined. I had to leave my slightly remarkable life in the big city, working behind-the-scenes in television and going to school at a nearby private college to an unremarkable return to my parent’s basement with a baby in my belly and a 90-minute one-way commute to the nearest state university.

But it worked out. The baby is now a beautiful high school junior who towers over me, gets straight As and drives me insanely crazy most days.

And I couldn’t have planned it any better.

Happy 1st Birthday, Madeline!

It's official!

Our baby is no longer a baby! She's a toddler. Madeline turned one on Thursday and we had a family party on Saturday.

She grew bored with opening up her gifts and, naturally, wanted to play with the boxes instead. We were letting her play with the Little People Animal Sounds Farm box until Sunday when she took a header off the box, landing onto the wood floors.

Meanwhile, we weren't sure last week if Maddy was going to have a party since her big sis came down with a suspected case of the H1N1 virus. Thankfully, she got the flu earlier in the week so she was better for Maddy's party. I also was grateful that the rest of us didn't catch it either since nothing clears a birthday party faster than saying you've got the swine flu. One of my twin nephews wasn't there because he was sick but I guess he was diagnosed with strep throat.

At 3:23 p.m. Oct. 15, I was at my mother-in-law's house. It's hard to believe that it was at this precise time we first laid eyes on our precious Madeline.

It's been hard not to dwell on how I would be about 4-5 months pregnant right now with Maddy and Erika's little brother or sister if I hadn't had a miscarriage in July.

But I do take comfort in the fact that our girls are happy, healthy and love each other.

Terrible twos, ready or not, here we come!